How a Mughal Prince Used Ascetic Imagery to Define His Divine Status
In short: Explore how Prince Dara Shikoh utilized depictions of dervishes in a personal album to cultivate his image as a vessel for divine presence within 17th-century Indo-Muslim culture.
In this lecture, Assistant Professor Murad Khan Mumtaz examines an album compiled by the Mughal prince Dara Shikoh (1615–1659) for his fiancée, Nadira Banu Begum. The collection uses visual and literary metaphors to celebrate the theme of union, notably featuring dervishes observing members of the royal court in serene garden environments.
The presentation analyzes how these artistic choices helped construct Shikoh’s courtly identity, positioning him as a locus of godly manifestation. This exploration highlights the intersection of asceticism and royal authority in Indo-Muslim devotional life.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: The Annemarie Schimmel Memorial Lecture—“I Saw My Lord in the Form of a Beardless Youth”
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